Plumbing fixture



1957 P. c. SYMMONS v 3,333,284

PLUMBING FIXTURE Filed Dec. 50, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR PAU L,,.C. SYMMONS Jazz/9M ATTORNEY Aug. 1, 1967 RC. SYMMONS PLUMBING FIXTUREFiled Dec. 30, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTDR PAUL C.SYMMONS ATTORNEYUnited States Patent 3,333,284 PLUMBING FIXTURE Paul C. Symmons, Newton,Mass., assignor to Symmons Engineering Company, Boston, Mass, acorporation of Massachusetts Filed Dec. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 422,301 17Claims. (Cl. 4192) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The specificationdiscloses a modular shower bath unit adapted for single or multi-stationshower installations. Each modular unit comprises a mixing valve havinga pair of inlet ports and an outlet port, a water supply pipe sectionsecured to each inlet port, and a water delivery pipe section secured tothe outlet port, bracket means on the valve for securing it to asupporting wall, a fitting on the end of the delivery pipe for securingthe delivery pipe to the same supporting wall, a cover member concealingthe pipes and all of the valve except its operating handle, meanssecuring the cover member to the valve body and also to the fitting onthe delivery pipe, and a shower head assembly secured to the covermember and communicating with the delivery pipe through the fitting. Asoap dish is adapted to be secured to the cover member so as to closeoff the bottom end of the cover member.

This invention relates to plumbing fixtures and more particularly to amodular multi-station surface-mounted plumbing fixture.

Schools and other large establishments require multistation showerinstallations in selected bathing areas. For a long time suchinstallations involved a system of piping which was installed prior tocompletion of the building walls and which consisted of main hot andcold water supply headers located behind building walls and branch pipesin the walls leading from the headers to each station. Necessarily thebranch pipes were installed prior to completion of the walls While theseveral fittings for each station, e.g. shower head, valves, etc., wereinstalled in the final stages of construction. The obvious disadvantageof this type of installation is that it can be completed only in severalstages; moreover, it requires extensive on-the-job cutting and fittingof pipes, as well as individually mounting and connecting each valve andshower head. Accordingly there have been attempts to provideprefabricated surface-mounted multi-station shower systems which couldbe installed after the building walls have been finished, i.e., fullyplastered or tiled. I-Ieretofore such attempts at prefabrication havenot been satisfactory fora variety of reasons, including excessive cost,poor appearance, lack of easy adaptability to existing supply headers,inconvenient location of shower valves, excessive size, difiiculty ofinstallation, and need for several types of prefabricated units topermit mounting on right angle walls.

Accordingly the general object of the present invention is to provide anovel multi-station plumbing fixture which may be mounted on the wallsof a building after the walls have been fully constructed.

Another general object of the invention is to provide a modular plumbingfixture which may be mounted on completed building Walls and which maybe connected to existing hot and cold water headers together with otherlike fixtures to provide a multi-station plumbing installation.

Another object is to provide novel prefabricated plumbing fixturemodules each including a shower head and hot and cold Water valve means,and each designed to be mounted on an existing building wall to serve asindividual shower stations.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a surfacemounted,multi-station plumbing fixture wherein the distance between adjacentstations is variable.

Still another object is to provide a surface-mounted, multi-stationshower fixture made up of prefabricated wall-mounted modules eachequipped with shower heads and a mixing valve, the modules beingrelatively simple in construction, pleasing in appearance, and easy toinstall.

Described briefly, plumbing fixtures embodying the present inventionconsist of one or more prefabricated standard units which are adapted tobe readily hung on the finished building walls. Each of these unitsconsists of a mixing valve, a shower head, a pair of pipes forconmeeting the mixing valve to hot and cold water supply lines, a riserconnecting the outlet of the mixing valve to the shower head, bracketmeans for attaching the foregoing assembly to a building wall, and aremovable cover panel concealing all of the foregoing members except theshower head and the handle portion of the valve. The valve is providedwith integral stops, i.e., shutoifs, which are accessible withoutremoval of the cover panel. As an optional feature a soap dish isattached to the bottom of the cover panel. Each unit is adapted forconnection to: (a) thru-wall water supply pipes, i.e. pipes projectingfrom a vertical Wall or ceiling, or (b) horizontally extending pipesmounted on the outer surface of a finished wall. These modular units areadapted to be fabricated in two dilferent sizes, one size for adults andthe other size for children, Without any material change in basicdesign.

Other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention arebelieved to be readily apparent from the following detailed descriptionwhich is to be considered together with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of several prefabricated modules mounted onthe walls of a building and connected to water supply lines introducedfrom three dilferent dire ctions;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of two adjacent modules with onemodule exploded to illustrate certain details thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the top of one module, with a portionof the front panel broken away to illustrate certain details thereof;and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a special bracket memberforming part of each module.

As previously indicated, the invention provides novel prefabricatedmodular units designed to be mounted on the surface of a finished wallat spaced points to provide a multi-station plumbing or shower fixture.FIG. 1 illustrates that these novel units do not require one specificsupply line piping arrangement but are adapted for connection to supplylines extending at ditferent angles. Five like prefabricated units, 2A,2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E are shown in FIG. 1. The unit 2A is mounted on a Wall4 and is supplied with hot and cold water from the back via a pair ofpipes 6 protruding from the Wall at right angles thereto. The adjacentunit 2B, also is mounted on wall 4 but it is supplied with hot and coldwater from the top via a pair of wall'mounted pipelines 8 extendingvertically down from the ceiling 10. The next unit 2C also is mounted onwall 4 while the other two units, 2D and 213, are mounted on a secondwall 12 which forms a right angle corner with wall 4. These three unitsare connected to common hot and cold Water supply lines 14 which arewall mounted like pipelines 8 but extend horizontally. These horizontalsupply lines 14 are dead-ended at unit 2C. Further details regarding thefive units of FIG. 1 are presented hereinafter.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, each unit comprises a mixing valve16 having a rotatable operating handle 18, two inlet ports 20 and 22,and an outlet port 24. Adjustable stops 26 of conventional design aremounted in the inlet ports to permit Shutting off the flow of water intothe valve when it is necessary to repair or inspect the mixing valvemechanism. Although not shown it is to be understood that the mixingvalve mechanism is of conventional design, preferably of thepressure-responsive type disclosed in US. Patent No. 3,099,996 issued toPaul C. 'Symmons, one of the applicants herein. With such a mixing valvemechanism, rotation of operating handle 18 will permit adjustment ofmixed water temperatures and assurance that it will not rise or dropwith changes in supply line water pressures. Valve 16 also includes twolaterally-extending bracket members 30 and 32 which are formed integralwith the inlet port sections and which have holes to accommodate screwsfor attachment to a wall.

It is to be noted that the two inlet ports and the outlet port are alllocated on the top side of the mixing valve body and face in the samedirection. Attached to these ports are hot and cold supply pipes 38 and40 respectively and a mixed water delivery pipe 42. The two supply pipesare fitted with unions 44. The delivery pipe 42 is somewhat shorter thanthe two supply pipes and affixed to its upper end is a special fittingidentified generally at 46. As seen best in FIGS. 3 and 4, fitting 46includes a hollow casing 48 which is open at its bottom end 50 and has aright angle tubular extension 52 of reduced diam eter acting as anoutlet. The bottom end 50 fits onto and is secured to the delivery pipe42. Fitting 46 also includes two bracket plates 54 and 56. The rearbracket plate 54 is slightly lower and has a pair of holes 58 to receivescrews 60 (FIG. 3) used to attach the fitting to a wall. The frontbracket plate 56 extends on opposite sides of tubular extension 52 butthe latter projects forward a substantial distance from the front faceof the former. Bracket plate 56 has a set of threaded holes 62 locatedat its ends and a second set of holes 64 located close to tubularextension 52. The purposes of holes 62 and 64 are described hereinafter.

Each prefabricated unit also includes a cover member 68 which isgenerally U-shaped in cross-section so as to provide a front panel 70and a pair of angular side panels 72. The front panel has a large hole74 near its bottom end for valve 16 and a smaller hole 76 near its topend for the tubular extension 52 of fitting 46. Mounted directly on thepanel is a shower head assembly identified generally at 78. Each showerhead assembly includes a shower head 80 secured by a conventionalball-type swivel connection 82 to a tubular inlet pipe 84 that ismounted in a hollow mounting head 86 of polygonal shape. The rearsurface of mounting head 86 is flat so as to fit against the front panelof cover 68 and also has an aperture to accommodate the tubularextension 52 of fitting 46 in the manner shown in FIG. 3. The showerhead assembly is attached to the cover 68 by means of four bolts 90(FIG. 3) which pass through four holes 92 arranged symmetrically abouthole 76 in the front panel 70 and screw into the back of mounting head86.

It is to be noted that the shower head assembly 78 and the cover member68 form a discrete sub-assembly which can remain intact when the coveris removed for inspection or repair of valve 16. This discretesub-assembly is held in place with respect to the other components ofthe modular unit by two sets of screws 94 and 96 which pass through thefront panel of the cover plate. Screws 94 screw into two bosses 98formed integral with opposite sides of the body of valve 16, whilescrews 96 screw into the tapped holes 62 of front bracket plate 56.Holes 64 in the same bracket plate are aligned with two of the holes 92and are large enough to accommodate the heads of the bolts 90 which arelocated in those two holes.

The length of cover member 68 is sufiicient for it to conceal the unions44 at its top end and all but the handle portion of valve 16 at itsbottom end. The bottom end may be left open or closed off. Preferablythe latter is accomplished by providing a soap dish 100 having a flatextension 102 which functions as an end plate for the cover member.Extension 102 is secured to the cover member by screws 104. The latterpass through suitable holes 106 formed in the cover member and screwinto tapped holes formed in ears 110 that are struck out of extension182.

The upper end of the cover member is closed off in various ways. Inthose cases where the supply pipes 38 and 40 are connected to pipelinesprojecting out of the wall (as shown at 2A in FIG. 1 and also FIG. 3),the upper end of the cover member is closed off by a flat end plate 112which is secured in place by screws. Preferably end plate 112 has ears(not shown) like ears 110 to enable it to be secured in place by screws114.

In the case of through-ceiling supply piping (e.g. unit 28 in FIG. 1), amatching cover extension 116 is provided. The bottom end of the coverextension is secured to the main cover member by the screws 114 whichwould be used to lock end plate 112. Preferably the cover extension hasears (not shown) which extend down inside of the main cover member inposition to receive screws 114.

In the third type of installation shown in FIG. 1 (units 2C, 2D, and2E), the cover panels abut U-shaped housing members 120 that cover thehorizontal supply lines 14. It is to be noted that these housing membersmay be made in different lengths and that two or more can be mounted innear-abutting relation on the same wall. Thus FIG. 2 illustrates twohousing members 120A and 120B of different lengths in end-to-endalignment. For convenience of mounting, it is preferred that thesehousing members have flanges 112 provided with suitable holes 124 toreceive screws whereby they may be fastened to the wall. Thenear-abutting ends of the two housing members are covered by a matchingstrap member 126 having flanges 128 which are secured to the wall byscrews 130. Where two housing members are mounted on adjacent wallsmeeting at a right angle, e.g. walls 4 and 12, they are joined by acorner housing member 134. The latter is designed to abut the mainhousing members and has flanges 136 corresponding to flanges 122. Eachcorner housing member has ears 138 at each end which extend inside ofthe adjacent housing members 120 and are secured thereto by screws 140.Although not shown, it is to be understood that in the case where supplylines 14 are dead-ended, an end member is provided for the end housingmember. Preferably the end member has ears similar to ears 138 so as tobe secured in place by screws.

As is also illustrated in FIG. 2, the bottom side of each housing member120 has a slot 142 at each station to accommodate the branch pipelinesleading from the horizontal headers 14 to the supply pipes 38 and 40 ofthe modular unit at the station. Slots 142 enable the housing members tobe mounted in place either before or after the connections have beenmade to unions 44. In this connection it is to be observed that at eachstation the connection to the cold water header (identified as 14A inFIG. 2) is made by a standard T 144 and a nipple of appropriate length.The connection to the hot water header (14B in FIG. 2) also involves a Tand nipple but the two are connected by a special bypass fitting 146which is curved to fit over and extend around half of the cold waterheader within the space permitted by the associated housing member 120.

It is believed to be apparent from the foregoing description that theinvention is flexible in application as well as being easy to install.It is suited for installations where piping is completed in stages aswell as where supply headers are mounted on the outside surfaces ofbuilding walls. Because the lengths of cover members 68 and supply pipes38 and 40 are variable, the invention is applicable equally well toadult or child-size installations.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in itsapplication to the details of construction and arrangement of partsspecifically described or illustrated, and that within the scope of theappended claims, it may be practiced otherwise than as specificallydescribed or illustrated.

I claim:

1. A prefabricated unit for a surface mounted plumbing system of thecharacter described comprising a control valve with at least one inletport and also an outlet port, said valve also having an operating handleprojecting from one side thereof, means for attaching said valve on asupporting wall, each inlet port adapted for connection to a watersupply pipe, a liquid delivery pipe connected to said outlet port, afitting on the end of said delivery pipe adapted for securing saiddelivery pipe to said wall, a cover member having a front wall andopposed side walls, said cover member positioned so that it embracessaid valve and also said fitting and delivery pipe, means securing saidcover member to said valve and said fitting, and a shower head assemblysecured to said cover member and communicating with said delivery pipethrough said cover member.

2. A prefabricated unit as defined by claim 1 wherein the handle portionof said valve is exposed while substantially all of the rest of saidvalve is concealed by said cover member.

3. A prefabricated unit as defined by claim 1 wherein said cover memberis elongated with said shower head assembly mounted at one end and saidvalve handle exposed at the other end thereof.

4. A prefabricated unit as defined by claim 1 including a water supplypipe attached to each inlet port, and further wherein said pipes areparallel to each other and extend in the same direction away from saidvalve.

5. A prefabricated unit as defined by claim 1 further including a supplypipe connected to each inlet port, each supply pipe supported by saidvalve in parallel relation to said delivery pipe behind said covermember and being adapted for connection to a water supply line.

6. A multi-station plumbing fixture comprising a plurality of elongatedvertically-extending prefabricated units each comprising a mixing valvehaving an operating handle and means adapted to secure said valve to abuilding wall, a pair of hot and cold water supply pipes connected toinlet ports of said valve and a mixed water delivery pipe connected tothe discharge port of said valve, a member for securing said deliverypipe to the surface of a building wall, a removable cover memberexposing said handle while concealing substantially all of the rest ofsaid valve and said pipes, and a shower head attached to said covermember and communicating with said delivery pipe.

7. A multi-station plumbing fixture as defined in claim 6 wherein saidshower head has a cover-mounting portion with an inlet hole in whichresides a tubular water discharge element connected to said deliverypipe.

8. A multi-station plumbing fixture as defined by claim 7 wherein saidtubular water discharge element is part of said pipe securing member.

9. A multi-station plumbing fixture as defined by claim 6 wherein thehot and cold water supply pipes of each unit terminate at the top end ofeach unit and are fitted with unions for coupling to hot and cold watersupply lines.

10. A multi-station plumbing fixture as defined by claim 6 wherein thesaid supply pipes of each unit are coupled to horizontally extending hotand cold water supply lines mounted on the surface of the said buildingwall, and further wherein said supply lines are concealed by removableelongated cover panels, the upper ends of the cover members of saidunits fitting close to the cover panels of said supply lines.

11. A multi-station plumbing fixture as defined by claim 6 furtherincluding a soap dish for each prefabricated unit, each soap dish havingan extension that is removably secured to a cover member in position toclose ofl? the bottom end thereof while simultaneously acting as asupport for said soap dish.

12. A prefabricated modular plumbing unit comprising a mixing valvehaving a pair of inlet ports and an outlet port facing in the samedirection, a pair of hot and cold water supply pipes connected to saidinlet ports, a mixed water delivery pipe connected to said outlet port,bracket means formed integral with said valve for attaching it to theouter surface of a building wall, a fitting mounted on the remote end ofsaid delivery pipe, said fitting including a tubular water dischargeportion extending at a right angle to said delivery pipe, a cover memberattached to said fitting, and a shower head mounted on said cover memberand having an inlet communicating with said tubular water dischargeportion.

13. A prefabricated plumbing unit as defined by claim 12 wherein saidtubular water discharge portion extends through a hole in said covermember and is in telescoping relation to said shower head inlet.

14. A prefabricated plumbing unit as defined by claim lz wherein saidcover member is secured to said valve.

15. A prefabricated plumbing unit as defined by claim 12 wherein saidpipes are all parallel and said supply pipes extend beyond said fitting.

16. A prefabricated plumbing unit as defined by claim 12 furtherincluding a soap dish with a fiat extension, said extension removablysecured to said cover member in position to close off the bottom end ofsaid cover member While simultaneously acting as a support for said soapdish.

17. A prefabricated shower unit of the character described, comprising acontrol valve having (a) hot and cold water inlet ports, (b) a mixedwater outlet port, (0) an operating handle projecting from one sidethereof, and (d) manually operable hot and cold water stops at one endthereof, said valve also having means adapted for mounting it on thesurface of a supporting vertical wall, first and second pipes secured tosaid valve and communicating with said inlet ports, a third pipe securedto said valve and communicating with said outlet port, a fitting on theend of said third pipe adapted for securing said third pipe to saidwall, a cover member covering said valve and also said fitting andpipes, said cover member having a hole through which said operatinghandle projects, means securing said cover member to said valve andfitting, and a shower head assembly secured to said cover member andcommunicating with said third pipe through said cover member via saidfitting, said hot and cold water stops being accessible from one end ofsaid cover member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,835,301 12/1931 Hennessey 4-1912,825,909 3/1958 Morris 4-145 2,992,437 7/1961 Nelson et al. 4-192LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

HAROLD J. GROSS, Examiner,

1. A PREFABRICATED UNIT FOR A SURFACE MOUNTED PLUMBING SYSTEM OF THECHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING A CONTROL VALVE WITH AT LEAST ONE INLETPORT AND ALOS AN OUTLET PORT, SAID VALVE ALSO HAVING AN OPERATING HANDLEPROJECTING FROM ONE SIDE THEREOF, MEANS FOR ATTACHING SAID VALVE ON ASUPPORTING WALL, EACH INLET PORT ADAPTED FOR CONNECTION TO A WATERSUPPLY PIPE, A LIQUID DELIVERY PIPE CONNECTED TO SAID OUTLET PORT, AFITTING ON THE END OF SAID DELIVERY PIPE ADAPTED FOR SECURING SAIDDELIVERY PIPE TO SAID WALL, A COVER MEMBER HAVING A FRONT WALL ANDOPPOSED SIDE WALLS, SAID COVER MEMBER POSITIONED SO THAT IF EMBRACESSAID VALVE AND ALSO SAID FITTING AND DELIVERY PIPE, MEANS SECURING SAIDCOVER MEMBER TO SAID VALVE AND SAID FITTING, AND A SHOWER HEAD ASSEMBLYSECURED TO SAID COVER MEMBER AND COMMUNICATING WITH SAID DELIVERY PIPETHROUGH SAID COVER MEMBER.